Whispers
by Loosely Divided
Summary: Sulu stared at the body on the biobed. "It's like he knew this would happen," he whispered. Jim's dead. Well, sort of. (Jim's in a tight spot in life right now.) (Jim focused! Multi-chapter! Mostly full cast! Adventure! Free Bonus: Angst! Price: a few minutes of your time. Will update soon.)
1. Prologue

A multi-chapter! Because why not! This is inspired by a few other fics (to name them right now would spoil the show). I am writing the first chapter right now, so I hope to update soon. Pleasepleaseplease, review! Thoughts on this story? Thoughts for other stories you could want me to write? Bits of poetry you've written? I'll take it all. Reviews are the butter to my bread.

And so, yes. The story. Enjoy! Lots of angst in this story, because I need that in my life.

...

The moonlight filtered in through the windows, setting the ironworks sparkling, casting the room into a cool shade of melancholy. Precisely opposite to the mood in the room. They were in a dimly lit factory on the outskirts of Kusht, a suburb of the capital Wishta, the skeletal remains of machinery that once built weaponry turning the massive hall into a maze of creaking metal and tall shadows, twisted and bending until one would find themselves walking in circles, never to find their destination. Towards the south-east corner, under a large dome made of spikes thirty meters tall, that is where she met him. Here, there were no straining ears or prying eyes. Which was for the better. One whisper of what they spoke of, if caught, would have them hanged, no doubt. The Federation did not take kindly to their cause.

Leah lay her arm across her chest and bowed her head as she approached. He sat at a small table in the dome's center, splayed across a rickety steel chair as he admired his bejeweled hands. It was an act, Leah knew. Roq was arrogant, but no fool. He seemed open and vulnerable to attack in this moment, yet she knew of the knives in each boot, in his jacket, on his belt. The man was a knife fight asking to happen.

"Is it done?" he asked quietly, smoothly. Leah smiled. He would be very pleased to hear that after months of planning, days of lying in wait, plans drawn and redrawn, coins spent and souls quieted, it had turned out even better than planned.

"Better than done. I have the Captain, and he has no clue to my name or my face." She pulled a necklace from her jacket and hung it around her neck. It was a simple leather chain, and from it hung a small, silver sphere. As it lay cool against her skin, Leah's face rippled and changed, transforming brown eyes to blue, skin from fair to dark, changing her facial structure until the woman standing before Roq remained the same only in long silvery hair, and the way she smiled. She smiled now.

He raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. "Impressive."

Leah took the necklace off and stuffed it back in her jacket pocket. Within seconds, her face was back to its original. "A trader was most kind to give this to me, once I asked the proper way. All it needs is to be within half a meter to my skin without a structure blocking that distance, and I am carved anew to whatever specifications I desire."

Roq laughed. "Tell me, what is the proper way of asking?"

Leah's eyes glinted, not unlike the cold steel walls around them. "With my knife to his husband's throat."

She grinned wide enough for her cheeks to hurt. It was not the violence she loved, but the knowledge that she could strike fear into the hearts of others. That, was a most powerful tool.

"And what of the Captain? How to lower his defenses, allow you to slip it in unnoticed?" he asked.

"A lady should not give away the tricks behind the magic," she replied cheekily.

Roq gave a small smile, then grew serious. "Tell me," he commanded, and in that moment Leah was reminded of Roq's force as the scar on her throat throbbed. A scar well deserved, and given with honour, yet a memory of pain nonetheless. She never did well with pain.

"James Kirk is famed across the galaxies for bedding women left and right without thought," she said coldly. "His reputation proved true, all that was needed were a few words exchanged, and he let me in as a flower allows a bee."

Roq snorted. "Eloquent, milady."

She ignored the mocking. "He will be dead before the forty-sixth moon turn."

Roq reached into his jacket and pulled out a leather pouch. He flung it at her, and when she opened it, she gasped. Inside lay coins and jewels and a tremendous amount of wealth.

"You have done well," he said. Leah glowed and hid a smile. Coming from Roq, it was high praise indeed.

"Great thanks," she said, bowing her head deeply. She turned to go when Roq's voice stopped her dead in her tracks. He spoke with a chill that tempted her to shiver. Roq was never one to speak lightly. Growing up in the world of politics, he knew how to wield words as finely as he did swords. And Leah did not know of a man who could best Roq at blades. He now spoke softly, the words echoing softly across the abandoned factory, like ripples in a pond.

"Do not forget, Leah. If he doesn't die, you will."


	2. Chapter 1

So you'll notice the chapters are fairly short right now, when I'm done more of the story I'll compile chapters together but for now, don't want to leave anyone hanging!

Enjoy. Please review, please please please. They are my oxygen.

...

"Captain, if you would be so kind as to refrain from distracting me from important matters," Spock stated as he glared at Jim, grinning impishly from the Captain's chair.

Well, not quite glaring, Jim thought. But Spock's eyes were narrowed and his jaw was tight, in ever so slight increments. To his credit, Spock had kept his voice level and his posture no more rigid than usual.

Jim grinned widely. It was as close to mad as Spock ever got.

"C'mon, Spock," he groaned loudly. Over at his station, Sulu smiled slightly. The Captain was such a child. "Nothing wrong with simply exercising my hand-eye coordination," Kirk added.

Spock was silent for a moment. "Throwing your Terran peas at my head in an effort to elicit an emotion from me is only an exercise in my patience, Captain."

"Captain?" Sulu asked. Kirk quickly swung his chair to face him.

"Yes?"

"Do you wish me to notify McCoy that you are in need of treatment for burns?"

Kirk's eyes narrowed. "I'm not burned, Sulu what do -" he paused. "Oh, very funny Lieutenant."

Jim swung his chair in a slow circle. "I am being harassed by my own crew!" he proclaimed indignantly, tossing a pea in Sulu's direction. "I came to have a good time and instead feel attacked! The disgrace of this," he complained loudly, flinging more peas at Spock's head. Spock, for his part, gracefully ignored the peas raining down on his head and console.

"Keptin," Chekov chimed in. "I believe you know that old English saying, one about the taste of your own medicine?" Chekov struggled to keep his grin in check.

Jim sighed dramatically. "You too, Chekov? Really?" he said. Jim flung more peas at various crew on the Bridge with a pout on his face.

The doors to the Bridge swooshed open and Uhura quietly sighed in relief. A break from this melodramatic soap opera, that's what she needed. McCoy stalked in, right up to the Captain's chair.

Leonard looked at the bowl of peas in Kirk's hands, then glanced around the room, then back at the bowl, and finally met Jim's eyes, crinkled from a large grin.

McCoy raised his eyebrow ever so high. His chronometer beeped just then, and in a blink he had his hand around Jim's forearm, yanking him up and out of the chair. "It's time for your physical, Captain."

Kirk set the bowl of peas on the ground. "I'm on duty, Doctor McCoy. I'm busy, I can swing down there later."

"Too bad your shift is ending in thirty seconds," McCoy said smugly. "And you'll just 'swing by later'? Sorry, but I call bullshit."

Kirk shook his head, mouth twisted in a frown. "Swear words are distracting, Bones. There are people here _who wish not to be distracted from important matters_ ," he said primly, twisting his head not-so-subtly in Spock's direction.

McCoy sighed. "Just one month, Jim. Can I have one month where you don't make this difficult?"

"My health was fine last month, it'll be just as fine this month," Jim said, itching for this to be over. He'd swing by later, really. (He knows he won't).

"We've also been to two planets since last month! Who knows what alien STDs you've picked up!" Leonard practically yelled.

Jim winced at the noise, and at the fact that if the rest of the crew on the Bridge weren't listening before, they certainly were now. He knew his reputation for, ah, sleeping around was equal to, if not more well-known, than the fact that he was Captain of the Enterprise.

"Really Doctor McCoy, later I – "

"Keptin." Chekov said.

" – yes Chekov! What is it?" Kirk leapt at the distraction, settling back into the command chair.

"We have reached Star System 76L, Keptin," Chekov announced.

Jim straightened in his chair. "And I've only aged five years. Spock, what planets and surprises do we have in this System?" It had been two weeks since their visit to Wishta, capital of Rihite. A fun time, a lovely woman (or five), and then two weeks of the black, yawning pit of the final frontier. Kirk loved space, but he was less enthusiastic for the sheer boredom it sometimes gave.

McCoy stared at his friend. Too many years of friendship, and he still marveled at how Kirk went from goof to serious and driven in a blink of an eye.

"There are four Class D planets, two Class H planets, as well as two other planets, Class K and Class M, respectively," Spock said as he brought up a chart of the planets. "The only life forms in this system are the Olids, living on the Class M planet the Federation names Torrel V. They are a fairly primitive humanoid species, currently at the development level of Humans in the eleventh century."

Kirk sighed. "And Starfleet wants us to go down there and map out more of their culture? Doesn't that go against the Prime Directive a bit?"

"Only if we interact with them, Captain," Spock responded.

At that, Jim rubbed his hands together gleefully, looking around the Bridge. "Invisibility! So many possibilities!" He paused. "I will lead the first away team down." Spock wanted to protest, knowing by protocol that a Captain did not go on non-diplomatic away missions, yet he knew it was futile before he ever opened his mouth.

"Chekov, have you found a good place to land for primary sweeps?" Kirk asked.

Chekov hesitated. "Yes, sir. But…. I am not reading any life forms on the planet, Captain," he explained with a hint of panic.

Kirk narrowed his eyes. "None? Due to interference, perhaps?"

Pavel shook his head. "N-no, sir. We are quite close to the planet. From this distance, no distortion would affect the whole planet."

Kirk's jaw tightened. A planet's worth of people didn't just disappear. "Any chance of visuals?"

Chekov nodded and brought up closer images of Torrel V. Someone on the Bridge gasped. Jim stared. What had once been great cities, were now crumbling stone and brick, overgrown by plants and entangled in vines. Any people living on the planet had been gone a long time, it seemed.

"Captain, the last visit Starfleet made here was fifteen years ago. Judging by the regrowth, this planet's population perished fourteen years ago." Spock's voice was tight, but those who noticed did not comment.

"What can kill a planet in a year?" Jim wondered aloud.

"Nothing good, that's what," McCoy grumbled. "And that means full haz suits."

….

"Jim! What did I just say! _Haz_ _suits_ , wear the damn haz suits!" McCoy shouted as he sped up to catch up with Jim.

Jim swung around to face Leonard. "Bones! Bones, you don't need to mother hen. Any viruses would have died out by now, there is no trace of harmful radiations, the air almost exactly like Earth's, _there's nothing to worry about_."

McCoy barked a short laugh. "Of course there's something to worry about. _Something_ killed a hundred million people." McCoy felt sympathy as he saw Kirk's eyes tighten. It had been some time since Vulcan, but the experience of watching a planet die was not one anyone could ever forget. And coming to a planet where all its sentient beings had vanished, well, it was sure to put them all on edge.

McCoy softened his expression. "Alright," he said. Sharpening his look into a glare, he added "But don't think you're getting out of that physical."

Jim rolled his eyes and gave a small smile. "See you in fifteen hours, Bones. Don't set my ship on fire while I'm gone."

And with that, he turned and strode into the transporter room. Jim almost hesitated. Maybe he should have asked Bones for a quick hypo for his headache. His head pounded and pulsed and he could really use a nap about now. But, there was a planet to explore, and he would never let a trivial headache interfere with his job. He stepped onto the transporter pad with his team, looked at the Ensign overseeing the beam-down, and nodded.

"Energize."


End file.
